Policy

Policy articles analyzing social and public policy including impacts on economics, open dialog, and social life. Articles on the topic of policy at Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages.

this is not going away

Sorry, This Is Not Going Away 

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Maybe this book by the Covid Crisis Group hopes to be the last word. This will never happen. We are only at the beginning of this. As the economic, social, cultural, and political problems mount, it will become impossible to ignore the incredibly obvious. The masters of lockdowns are influential and well-connected but not even they can invent their own reality. 

Sorry, This Is Not Going Away  Read Journal Article

pseudo elite

The Triumph of the Pseudocrats

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The growing realization of comprehensive pseudo-elite bankruptcy will spur new generations of leaders in and out of government. They will replace the pseudocrats and earnestly recommit to basic American ideals of excellence, honesty, pluralism, and growth. They will launch multiple peaceful revolutions in culture, economics, media, business, science, technology, and foreign policy. If so, our democracy might yet recover and thrive.

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covid consensus

The Covid Consensus: This Book Is Essential 

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For all the Paul Krugmans out there, who believe lockdowns and vaccine mandates were not only necessary but also had more positive than negative consequences, The Covid Consensus provides a sobering wake-up call. If we do not band together to dismantle and replace the structures of authoritarian capitalism that determined the pandemic response, we will face a dire future indeed.

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Ukraine proxy war

Ukraine as a Proxy War: Conflicts, Issues, Parties, and Outcomes

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In a very real sense, Ukraine’s territory is the battleground for a proxy war between Russia and the West that reflects the unsettled questions since the end of the Cold War. This explains the ambivalence of most non-Western countries. They are no less offended by Russia’s war of aggression. But they also have considerable sympathy for the argument that NATO was insensitively provocative in expanding to Russia’s very borders. 

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after covid

After Covid: Twelve Challenges for a Shattered World 

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No question that the administrative bureaucracies would lock down again under the same or new pretext. Yes, they will face more opposition the next time and trust in their wisdom has fallen off a cliff. But the pandemic response also granted them new powers of surveillance, enforcement, and hegemony. The scientism that drove the response informs everything they do. So the next time, it will be harder to restrain them. 

After Covid: Twelve Challenges for a Shattered World  Read Journal Article

Prozac

Prozac Is Unsafe and Ineffective for Young People, Analysis Finds

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Antidepressants like fluoxetine double the risk of suicide and aggression in children and adolescentso, they often lead to decreased quality of life, they cause sexual dysfunction in about 50% of users, and these harms may continue long after they try to quit. There seems to be no rationale for using fluoxetine in young people for treating depression – the new analysis concludes the drug is unsafe and ineffective.

Prozac Is Unsafe and Ineffective for Young People, Analysis Finds Read Journal Article

biden sham compassion

Biden’s Sham Compassion for His Covid Persecution Victims

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The Biden administration will end the vaccine mandate for health care workers on May 11. But don’t expect politicians and bureaucrats to honor the “First, Do No Harm” rule in the future. Inside the Beltway, federal edicts will likely continue to be “close enough for government work” to sane health care policies.

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nuclear

My Transition from Nuclear to Covid

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The case for nuclear weapons rests on a superstitious belief of magical Realism in the utility of the bomb and the theory of deterrence.  The extreme destructiveness of nuclear weapons makes them qualitatively different in political and moral terms from other weapons, to the point of rendering them virtually unusable. Like the emperor who had no clothes, this might well be the truest explanation of why they have not been used since 1945.

My Transition from Nuclear to Covid Read Journal Article

countermeasure

Proof that the Vaccines Were a Military-Backed Countermeasure

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“Whole of nation” is closely associated with “whole of government” terminology. Both presented as feel-good ideas in plain text, but in fact these words signal a usurpation of power by the militarized executive branch of the government. Public private partnerships – so beloved by sellouts in academia, pharma, medicine and defense – are another closely associated term. 

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The Freezer-Truck Canard

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The excuse that we had to lock down because of freezer trucks does not hold water. The lockdown edict was issued on March 16, 2020, following the declaration of emergency on March 13, three days after Trump’s advisers convinced him to issue the lockdown. In that time, the funeral parlors and morgues closed too, as did most all medical services. The country was also in panic, which is not generally good for public health. 

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adults gone

Where Have the Adults Gone?

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The last three years show us what happens when specialists are in charge. If you want to know whether it is a good idea to lock down a whole city, it helps if you can quickly see the many effects lockdowns will have among many different parts of the city’s population and economy. Only with a broad view of many factors do you have hope of making a reasonable judgment. 

Where Have the Adults Gone? Read Journal Article

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